Attack Of The Black Rectangles

Denis asks Mac why he’s been acting so weird lately, and Mac finally tells him about his dad taking a bunch of stuff from his house and leaving town without explanation. Denis tells him that he’s sorry. When he parts with Denis, Mac goes to a park and cries over all of the things that have been confusing, frustrating, and unfair in his life lately. When he gets home, his mom and grandad don’t notice that he’s been crying. 

At school that week, Marci tells Mac that Denis told her about his dad leaving and she says she’s sorry that it happened. He knows Denis and Marci care about him and want to help, but he is mad that Denis told Marci and doesn’t think they can help him. He goes to the nurse’s office and tells her that he needs to go home. His grandad comes to pick him up, and Mac goes to bed when he gets home. When he wakes up, his grandad reheats the dinner he missed and tells Mac that he is planning to go to a big protest in the city the next day and that Mac should come.

On Saturday morning before going to the protest with Grandad, Mac reads the letters to the editor, some of which are about him and his friends’ appearance at the school board meeting. One letter is on their side, saying that the town should support them in fighting for children’s rights to read. Another is judgmental, saying that children should respect their elders and that their parents aren’t raising them well, which hurts Mac given his family situation. 

He and grandad take a bus to the protest, which is about teaching honest and accurate information in schools. Mac is out of sorts, and his grandad notices that he is feeling heavy. When they arrive at the protest, Mac is overwhelmed by the crowd and wants to go home. Grandad walks with him to a bus shelter, and they sit down to talk. Mac explains that he feels scared about everything and thought he’d be less scared as he got older. Grandad tells him that when he left to fight in the Vietnam War, he was only a few years older than Mac and was scared of everything, too. He tells him that this feeling will get worse before it gets better. Over the last few weeks, Mac has mostly been afraid that all adults are liars and that people will keep repeating horrible things from history because they don’t know the truth. Grandad explains that that’s why protests like the one they’re at are important. 

Grandad says he can tell that Mac is holding in a lot of shame and wants him to let it out into the open. He shows him how by loudly proclaiming the things he is ashamed of—that he killed two men at war, that he wasn’t a good husband or father, and that he stole food when he was poor. He openly sobs and wails. He wants to show Mac that he will feel better if he talks about what he’s feeling instead of keeping it in and letting it damage his life and relationships. When it’s Mac’s turn, he says that he doesn’t like himself and worries that other people won’t either because he’s like his dad. He doesn’t think he will be a good husband or father because of his dad. He’s also angry about having to fight against ignorance and censorship at school. He feels that Marci is too smart for him and that he’s a mess. Grandad reassures him that everyone is a mess and that the biggest lie people tell children is that adults aren’t messy, too. Eventually, they stop crying and hug and decide to get something to eat. After getting all of that off his chest, Mac feels like everything has changed.

After Mac’s cathartic venting experience with his grandad, they go get BLTs at a local diner. Mac’s grandad tells him that after the war, his wife, Mac’s grandmother, helped him see that to redeem himself from the guilt he felt, he had to make his life better for others and himself. Mac realizes that that is what his grandfather has done for him. 

Mac calls Denis to apologize for getting angry at him for telling Marci about his dad. Denis tells him that they are best friends and he doesn’t need to worry about it. He also urges him to ask Marci to the dance, but Mac doesn’t know how to do that. Grandad encourages him to just ask, and he even gives Mac Marci’s number—Grandad got it from her when they protested together the previous weekend. Mac asks Marci to the dance, and she immediately says yes. Mac is so thrilled that he and his grandad can’t stop smiling. Later, when they have dinner with his mom, he realizes that they all seem a lot happier with his dad gone.

Mac, Marci, and Denis are waiting to hear from the school board. They come over to Mac’s house and listen to punk rock music, and his grandad dances with them. Denis tells them that he and Hoa are going to the dance as friends, which makes Mac and Marci feel more comfortable about going. 

More people have been talking about the censorship of the black rectangles, and the school board calls an emergency meeting. All the parents of the kids in Mac’s literature group plan to attend. When he says that his grandad and mom will be there, Aaron gives him a hard time about his dad being gone. Ms. Sett overhears Aaron bullying Mac, and she later tells Mac that she removed him from his group. She also is very encouraging to Mac about what a strong leader he has become, referencing the school board meeting. He is surprised that she is happy about it because he was speaking out against her own behavior. 

Later, the principal calls Mac and Aaron to her office, and Aaron apologizes to Mac. Mac graciously accepts his apology and feels bad for Aaron because he has to spend the last day of their literature circle reading alone instead of with the group. Mac knows that people might think he is too nice, but he also doesn’t want to be the kind of person who has no feelings or compassion, like an “office guy” or his father.

While he’s at school, Mac checks his email and sees that Jane Yolen, the author of The Devil’s Arithmetic, has responded to his email. She tells him that she has written many books and that some of them have been censored, challenged, banned, and even burned. She says that she is sorry that Mac’s school censored her book and that Mac’s father broke his mom’s mug, but it seems like he is channeling his anger about those things in a positive way. 

Mac is thrilled that Yolen wrote back to him, and he quickly replies. He tells her that he loved her book and that his friend Marci explained to him that feminism is important because otherwise, believing that words like “breasts” are bad make girls feel ashamed about their bodies and underestimate boys’ intelligence and maturity. He also tells her that even though the books were not replaced, there will be another school board meeting to continue the discussion. Mac has not told Marci or Denis that he wrote to Yolen, and he decides not to because he still doesn’t really want to tell them about his dad breaking his mom’s mug.

Mac and Marci meet each other at the dance, and Mac tells her that she looks nice in her dress, but she obviously feels uncomfortable. She tells Mac that people often give her a hard time for being a feminist, assuming that she hates all boys and men and that she wants to be a man just because she wants equal rights. Mac tells her that he thinks she’s pretty and smart, and she tells him that she thinks he’s cute and the smartest and coolest person she knows. 

They wait outside the school for Denis and Hoa to arrive. Mac and Marci go inside while Denis waits outside for Hoa. Mac and Marci have a good time together dancing, but they begin to worry when Denis and Hoa still have not come inside. They look all over for them and finally decide to leave the dance and go to Denis’s house.

They find Denis at his house, and he tells them that Hoa did come to the dance, but he realized that she liked him as more than a friend, and he did not feel the same way about her. He feels really bad for hurting her feelings because he doesn’t get crushes on people. Marci and Mac comfort him, reminding him that he is not alone—there are a lot of people who identify as ace, or asexual, who do not have romantic feelings for others, and he shouldn’t feel bad about who he is. 

They decide to take a walk but are soon stopped by a police officer who reminds them that it is past the town’s curfew. They object because they just started their walk and there are a lot of adults still out. They walk back to Denis’s house, and then Mac walks Marci back to her house. She tells him that she doesn’t feel ready to kiss anyone yet, and Mac agrees. Mac goes home and tells his grandad about the dance and the police officer stopping them. The next morning, he sees that his grandad has made a sign for the protest that reads, “Let People Walk Around, Okay?” (291).

Two letters to the local newspaper’s editor feature criticism about the town’s decision to cancel Halloween due to safety concerns and a response. The response from Ms. Sett that defends the decision, insisting that the fun of Halloween is not worth risking the safety of children.